Memphis Daily Appeal

DIAMOND-CUT-DIAMOND.

A noted sportsman, taking dinner at one of our clubs, exhibited a diamond ring of great beauty and apparent value, on his finger. A gentleman present had a great passion for diamonds. After dinner the parties met in the office. After much bantering the owner of the ring consented to barter it for six hundred dollars. As the buyer left the room a suppressed titter struck his ear. He concluded that the former owner had sold both ring and purchaser. He said nothing, but called the next day upon a jeweler, where he learned that the diamond was paste, and the ring worth about twenty-five dollars. He examined some real diamonds, and found one greatly resembling the paste in his ring. He hired the diamond for a few days, pledged twelve hundred dollars, the price of it, and gave one hundred dollars for its use. He went to another jeweler, had the paste removed, and the real diamond set. His chums knowing how he had been imposed upon, impatiently waited for his appearance the next night. To their astonishment they found him in high glee. He flourished his ring, boasted of his bargain, and said if any gentleman present had a twelve hundred dollar ring to dispose of for six hundred dollars he knew a purchaser. When he was told that the ring was paste, and that he had been cheated, he laughed at their folly. Bets were freely offered that the ring did not contain a real diamond. Two men bet $1000 each, two others bet $500. All were taken. Umpires chosen. The money and the ring were put into their hands. They went to a first class jeweler, who applied all the tests, who said the ring was a diamond of the first water, and was worth, without the setting, $1200. The buyer put the $3000 which he had won quietly in his pocket. He carried the diamond back and recalled his $1200, and with his paste ring on his finger went to his club. The man who sold the ring was waiting for him. He wanted to get the ring back; he attempted to turn the whole thing into a joke. He sold the ring, he said, for fun: he knew it was a real diamond all the time. He never wore false jewels. He could tell a real diamond anywhere by its peculiar light. He would not be so mean as to cheat an old friend. He knew his friend would let him have the ring again. But his friend was stubborn-said that the seller thought it was paste, and intended to defraud him. At length, on the payment of $500, the ring was restored. All parties came to the conclusion, when the whole affair came out, that when diamond cuts diamond again, some one less sharp will be selected.

Matthew Hale Smith